Prescott Fire Department

In the days after a wildfire killed 19 members of an elite firefighting team, the Arizona city where they were based banded together in a series of moving public memorials and tributes, overwhelmingly united in its support of the men and their families.

An erratic wildfire driven by ferocious and shifting winds curled around the location of a team of Arizona Hotshot firefighters, cutting off their access to a safety zone and creating a death trap that quickly consumed them, two fire officials confirmed Friday based on a map of how the tragedy unfolded compiled by The Associated Press.

A sudden wind storm turned an Arizona forest fire into an out-of-control inferno that trapped and killed 19 people, including members of an elite crew of firefighters trained to battle the nation’s fiercest wildfires. It was the deadliest single day for U.S. firefighters since Sept. 11.

An elite crew of firefighters trained to battle the nation’s fiercest wildfires was overtaken by an out-of-control blaze in Arizona, killing 19 members as they tried to protect themselves from the flames under fire-resistant shields.